The Impact of Digital Currency on the Financial System: Universal Decentralized Digital Currency, Is It Possible?

With the continuous development of computer and blockchain technology, digital currency has gradually replaced some functions of legal tender. This paper investigated the impact and the feasibility of digital currency on the financial market. Combining the money demand theory of Karl Heinrich Marx and Milton Friedman respectively, we discussed the impact of electronic and cryptocurrencies on the amount of money in circulation. Then, through further empirical analysis, we conclude that in China, digital currency has a substitution effect on current deposits in the long term. Furthermore, the welfare effect level of different countries adopting different policies on digital currency is analyzed by using the local equilibrium model of tariff effect in small countries, and the policy choice of maximizing the total welfare level is discussed based on game theory. Finally, we put forward some suggestions on establishing the global financial supervision system

Effect of acupuncture in the acute phase of intracerebral hemorrhage on the prognosis and serum BDNF: a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundIntracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a common cerebrovascular disease, with a high rate of disability. In the literature on Chinese traditional medicine, there is increasing evidence that acupuncture can help hematoma absorption and improve neurological deficits after cerebral hemorrhage. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), one of the most studied neurotrophic factors, is involved in a variety of neurological functions and plays an important role in brain injury recovery. We investigated the effect of acupuncture intervention in the acute phase of ICH on the prognosis and serum BDNF levels of several patient groups.ObjectiveTo investigate the influence of acupuncture on the prognosis and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in patients in the acute phase of ICH.MethodsFrom November 2021 to May 2022, 109 subjects were consecutively enrolled, including patients with ICH, who were randomized into the acupuncture group (AG) and sham acupuncture group (SAG), and a control group (CG). The CG received the same acupuncture intervention as the AG, and the SAG received sham acupuncture, with 14 interventions in each group. The level of consciousness of patients with ICH was assessed and serum BDNF levels were measured in all three groups before the intervention and at 3 weeks after onset, and the level of consciousness and outcomes were assessed at 12 weeks after onset.ResultsAfter the intervention, the level of consciousness of the AG improved significantly (P < 0.05); the BDNF level of only the AG increased significantly (P < 0.05); the changes in Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score and BDNF level were significantly greater in the AG than in the SAG (P < 0.05), especially for locomotion (P < 0.05). At 12 weeks post-onset, the AG showed better outcomes and recovery of consciousness than the SAG (P < 0.05)

Evaluation of performance for malaria diagnosis in health facilities by five provincial reference laboratories of China

IntroductionThe provincial malaria diagnosis reference laboratories review and assess malaria cases diagnosed in health facilities for supporting the malaria elimination efforts and preventing re-transmission of imported malaria. The study aimed to evaluate the detection capability of malaria diagnosis in China from 2014 to 2021.MethodsData on malaria cases reported in the provincial-level administrative divisions (PLADs) of Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Guangxi, and Zhejiang from 2014 to 2021 were collected and analyzed.ResultsIn total, 5,770 malaria cases were reported from 2014 to 2021, and 99.05% (5,715/5,770) were submitted to the provincial malaria diagnosis reference laboratories. The median time between malaria cases being reported and the samples being received by reference laboratories was 6 days (Interquartile range, IQR:3–12 days) from 2017 to 2021. Diagnosis of 5,680 samples in the laboratory were confirmed by provincial reference laboratories, including 3,970 cases of Plasmodium falciparum, 414 of P. vivax, 1,055 of P. ovale, 158 of P. malariae, 1 of P. knowlesi, and 82 of mixed infections. Plasmodium species of 5,141 confirmed cases were consistent with the initial diagnosis, with a species accuracy rate of 90.53% (5,141/5,679). The accuracy of P. falciparum diagnosis in health facilities was higher than that of non-falciparum species. The inconsistency between microscopy and nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) results of confirmatory diagnosis was mainly in malaria-positive versus malaria-negative cases, as well as in mixed versus single infection cases.ConclusionThe provincial malaria diagnosis reference laboratories have played an important role in ensuring the accuracy and reliability of Plasmodium diagnosis in health facilities. However, the results of this study imply that capacity training for the identification of Plasmodium species in health facilities is warranted

Partial Oxidation of Methane to Syngas via Formate Intermediate Found for a Ruthenium-Rhenium Bimetallic Catalyst

Partial oxidation of methane (POM) is a potential technology to increase the efficiency of synthesizing a mixture of CO and H-2 called syngas, in comparison to steam reforming processes. Recently, supported metals modified with Re have emerged as active catalysts for POM. However, the role of Re in this reaction has been unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the addition of Re to a Ru/Al2O3 catalyst changes the reaction mechanism. The bimetallic catalyst oxidizes CH4 to mainly CO via formate. After all of the O-2 is used, steam reforming and reverse water-gas shift take place to increase the yield of CO and H-2. This is in contrast to Ru/Al2O3, which catalyzes POM mostly by complete oxidation of CH4 to CO2 and H2O and subsequent reforming reactions. In the bimetallic catalyst, the main role of Ru is to reduce Re species, and the reduced Re species produces formate from CH4 and also accelerates the steam reforming reaction. The dual roles of Re increase the total catalytic performance. These results show that Re is a main player rather than a simple promoter in the catalytic reaction

High-loading Ga-exchanged MFI zeolites as selective and coke-resistant catalysts for nonoxidative ethane dehydrogenation

In this paper, we investigated the effects of the Ga loading amount and H-2 treatment temperature for the reductive solid-state ion-exchange reaction on the generated Ga species in Ga-exchanged MFI zeolites (Ga-MFIs) as well as their catalysis for ethane dehydrogenation (EDH). For the formation of isolated Ga hydrides in the zeolites, [GaH](2+) ions were preferentially formed in the low-loading Ga-MFI (Ga/Al = 0.3) treated with H-2 at 550 degrees C, corresponding to the conventional preparation conditions, (Ga-MFI-0.3(550)), while the high Ga loading (Ga/Al = 1.0) and high-temperature H-2 treatment (800 degrees C) (Ga-MFI-1.0(800)) induced the formation of [GaH2](+) ions as the major Ga hydrides, as revealed by in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy including the isotope experiment using D-2. In the context of other Ga species, such as Ga+ cations and partially reduced Ga oxides (GaOX), Ga+ cations and GaOX coexist in Ga-MFI-0.3(550), as indicated by pyridine adsorption experiments. On the other hand, GaOX was hardly observed and a larger amount of Ga+ cations was formed in Ga-MFI-1.0(800). The remaining Bronsted acid sites (BASs) were also characterized by the NH3 adsorption experiment. In the EDH reaction, Ga-MFI-1.0(800) exhibited high selectivity owing to low coke formation, resulting in the highest durability among the series of Ga-MFIs tested. Under the optimized conditions, Ga-MFI-1.0(800) exhibited the highest C2H4 formation rate among previously reported Pt-free catalysts. Based on the combined results of characterization, catalyst tests, and kinetic studies, the high selectivity and durability of Ga-MFI-1.0(800) can be ascribed to the low amount of the remaining BASs by isolated Ga species ([GaH](2+), [GaH2](+) ions and Ga+ cations) as well as the major formation of [GaH2](+) ions among isolated Ga hydrides

Visual working memory capacity for color is independent of representation resolution.

BACKGROUND:The relationship between visual working memory (VWM) capacity and resolution of representation have been extensively investigated. Several recent ERP studies using orientation (or arrow) stimuli suggest that there is an inverse relationship between VWM capacity and representation resolution. However, different results have been obtained in studies using color stimuli. This could be due to important differences in the experimental paradigms used in previous studies. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We examined whether the same relationship between capacity and resolution holds for color information. Participants performed a color change detection task while their electroencephalography was recorded. We manipulated representation resolution by asking participants to detect either a salient change (low-resolution) or a subtle change (high-resolution) in color. We used an ERP component known as contralateral delay activity (CDA) to index the amount of information maintained in VWM. The result demonstrated the same pattern for both low- and high-resolution conditions, with no difference between conditions. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This result suggests that VWM always represents a fixed number of approximately 3-4 colors regardless of the resolution of representation

MegaDetectNet: A Fast Object Detection Framework for Ultra-High-Resolution Images

Addressing the challenge of efficiently detecting objects in ultra-high-resolution images during object detection tasks, this paper proposes a novel method called MegaDetectNet, which leverages foreground image for large-scale resolution image object detection. MegaDetectNet utilizes a foreground extraction network to generate a foreground image that highlights target regions, thus avoiding the computationally intensive process of dividing the image into multiple sub-images for detection, and significantly improving the efficiency of object detection. The foreground extraction network in MegaDetectNet is built upon the YOLOv5 model with modifications: the large object detection head and classifier are removed, and the PConv convolution is introduced to reconstruct the C3 module, thereby accelerating the convolution process and enhancing foreground extraction efficiency. Furthermore, a Res2Rep convolutional structure is developed to enlarge the receptive field and improve the accuracy of foreground extraction. Finally, a foreground image construction method is proposed, fusing and stitching foreground target regions into a unified foreground image. This approach replaces multiple divided sub-images with a single foreground image for detection, reducing overhead time. The proposed MegaDetectNet method’s effectiveness for detecting objects in ultra-high-resolution images is validated using the publicly available DOTA dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that MegaDetectNet achieves an average time reduction of 83.8% compared to the sub-image division method among various commonly used object detectors, with only a marginal 8.7% decrease in mAP (mean Average Precision). This validates the practicality and efficacy of the MegaDetectNet method for object detection in ultra-high-resolution images

DRIFT Study on Promotion Effect of the Keggin Structure over V2O5-MoO3/TiO2 Catalysts for Low Temperature NH3-SCR Reaction

Heteropoly acids (HPAs) with the Keggin structure have been widely used in NOx removal. Two kinds of catalysts (those with and without the Keggin structure) are prepared for studying the effect of the Keggin structure on the NH3-SCR reaction. A series of in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFT) analyses are conducted to investigate the surface-adsorbed species on the catalysts during the SCR reaction. The mechanism for enhancing low-temperature activity of the catalysts is proposed. Furthermore, the effect of NH4+ in the Keggin structure is also investigated. Results indicate that both the Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L-H) and Eley–Rideal (E-R) mechanisms occurred in the NH3-SCR reaction over the catalyst with the Keggin structure (Cat-A); in addition, when more acid sites are provided, NOx species activity is improved and more NH4+ ions participate in reaction over Cat-A, thus promoting SCR activity